Tarun Chhabra: Perhaps a combination of all three factors that you mention. Michael, I would recommend putting together a list of all the largely vegetarian indigenous groups and cultures from the world over and then look for the common characteristics.

Michael Tobias: I have endeavored to do just that, over the years. What is unique, I think, about the Todas is that there is evidence, as you know, that once they may have eaten meat, occasionally. And more recently, would sacrifice a buffalo once a year. Yet, something in their psyche changed; the whole culture switched to vegetarianism, by and large. I think it would be very important to discover what exactly triggered that dietary and ethical transformation, for it is a fundamental paradigm shift; one that encompasses a new nature; a new template of non-violence for future human survival, I suspect.